BRUSSELS, Thursday, April 25, 2024 (WAFA) – Belgium today condemned the killing of a Belgian agency aid worker by an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
“An Enabel employee & his family have been killed in Gaza. We express our solidarity with his family & colleagues,” Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib wrote on her X platform account.
“Bombing civilian areas & populations is contrary to international law”, she added while noting that she would summon the Israeli ambassador to “condemn this unacceptable act & demand an explanation.”
Abdallah Nabhan, a 33-year-old Belgian Development Agency (Enabel) employee, and his 7-year-old son, Jamal, were killed last night in an Israeli airstrike in the eastern part of the city of Rafah.
Enabel said in a press statement that Abdallah’s wife is in critical condition in hospital, fighting for her life. The couple’s two other children (aged 5 years and 7 months) sustained minor injuries. Abdallah’s 65-year-old father, his 35-year-old brother and his six-year-old niece also lost their lives.
The house where Abdallah’s family was located housed about 25 people, including residents and displaced people who sought refuge there. The attack last night took the lives of at least seven people and many others were injured, Enabel added.
The agency described Nabhan as “a very dedicated and valued colleague, who joined Enabel in April 2020 as Business Development Officer in a European project assisting small businesses in the Gaza Strip to produce in an environmentally friendly way, linking up with a Belgian Development Cooperation project aimed at helping young people find jobs.”
“Like all other Enabel employees in Gaza, Abdallah was on the list of people eligible to leave Gaza, which was delivered to Israeli authorities months ago. Unfortunately, Abdallah died before he and his family were granted permission to leave Gaza safely. There are currently seven Enabel staff still in Gaza,” the agency said.
Belgian Development Cooperation Minister Caroline Gennez condemned in the strongest terms this attack and called for the remaining colleagues still in Gaza to be given immediate permission to leave.
“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Abdallah, his son Jamal, his papa, his brother and his niece, and to all our Enabel staff,” Minister Caroline Gennez said.
“Abdallah was a father, a husband, a son, a human being. His story and that of his family is just one of tens of thousands,” she added.
“When will it finally be enough? After six months of war and destruction in Gaza, we already seem to be getting used to it, but the fact remains that the indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international, humanitarian and law of war. The Israeli government bears a crushing responsibility here,” she added.
Meanwhile, Enabel CEO Jean Van Wetter voiced his outrage and shock at the killing of Nabhan and the incessant Israeli genocidal offensive.
“This is yet another flagrant violation by Israel of international humanitarian law”, he said while adding that he “cannot accept that this has continued with impunity for so long.”
“It is tragic that innocent civilians are victims of this conflict. We must do everything we can to stop the violence,” he concluded.
K.F.
